Anthimia 24, 234 AC
Redon III and his entourage of hope and exodus (Noantri Odiyan) had departed, and the grey months of Algonar went on without any new developments. The interstellar Noantri network of telepaths dutifully relayed news and promises of the Gateway, but nothing happened. An Algonar year went by, and more, and the Noantri of that world, living under increasing economic and social restraints, began to doubt that the Gateway would ever deliver them. In late autumn, the telepaths relayed devastating news: Redon III was dead, by his own hand, as it had been revealed that he was having a sexual relationship with his young male theophore assistant, Omeir. This was regarded as a fatal breach of a sacred trust. Redon III left a strange suicide note in which he promised that he would return in another incarnation, who would be even more powerful than he was.
The news split the restive Noantri population into angry factions, the betrayed and the loyal, the yearning and the resigned. There were quarrels and fights, attacks on the telepathic messengers and the theophores and sorcerers who remained in service among the colonies. Some insisted that the Gateway was coming back, just around the corner; others told them to give up, that the Odiyan was a dream of idiots. Most of the Noantri fell into a despairing dream, fueled by boredom, drink, and entertainment. That last was the main draw for Noantri, since that year, the global song contest "Algonar Star" had a Noantri contestant as a finalist. Nyasia Tuan had quickly become a celebrity even among the Other-humans, with her emotional renditions of songs of sadness and exile, such as "By the waters of Algonar" and "Redon's Lament."
There were rumors, always rumors, that the Gateway was coming back, even that it would be set up in Noantri territory so that people could simply walk through from their own streets. As the finals of "Algonar Star" approached, and the weather worsened, few people noticed the comings and goings of cloaked Noantri folk, in and out of the dimly lit Temple of the Unborn. They seemed to be bringing things in and out of the Temple, but when they were questioned they knew nothing, admitted nothing, and were authorized to be there. There were some new Noantri in town, and immediately there was a wave of interest, as if the Gateway were finally being brought. Yet there was no public announcement that the Gateway was imminent.
The snow was swirling in bitter cold winds the night of the "Algonar Star" finals. No one was outside, and the plaza and precincts of the Temple were deserted. Everyone was inside watching the contest on their screens, waiting for Nyasia's performance. It was after midnight when she performed, and everyone awaited the verdict. But the Noantri and their neighbors would not hear the verdict, because just as the performance ended, all the screens, indeed, all electronic devices and electricity in the Noantri temple precinct and places nearby failed. Those closest to the Temple saw a strange flame of multicolored light erupting from the Temple, and after that a huge yet muffled explosion that broke windows all around the area. And in that explosion, the Temple collapsed in a vast cloud of dust and rubble that mixed with the snow. It was a very strange explosion, in that the building seemed not to blow up as to blow inwards, an implosion rather than an explosion. Much of the interior of the Temple, its statuary and art and carvings, was missing. The only thing left of it was the outside wall, along with the architectural ornaments and sculpture, including the finials from which the doomed Redon III had preached.
As day broke, horrified onlookers gathered in the ash-covered snow, and the Noantri of the area swarmed over the ruins, salvaging anything they could. The city of Algonar was aghast, despite the low status of the Noantri; what form of terrorism was attacking the city? Were the Noantri finally about to be eliminated? Did they have some secret weapon? Were the Noantri preparing some horrible revenge on those who destroyed the Temple? The plazas filled with military vehicles and soldiers, and the Noantri, carrying their fragments and their relics saved from the dust, retreated behind their walls, waiting for whatever disaster would come next.
More snow covered the ruins and the rubble, as the Noantri huddled in their houses awaiting the worst. But perhaps the worst was not violence, but inaction. Their temple and their hope was gone, without any idea of who might have done this awful deed of destruction. Did the Other-humans bomb the building? Did one faction of Noantri set the explosives, to spite their internecine enemies? No one knew. No one would know for a long time, as the winter months dragged by. Finally, a whisper of information came through the telepathic relays. The Gateway was coming. The Gateway was finally coming to Algonar. But those who would pass through it must leave their city, leave their homes, take their possessions and vehicles and pets and any valuables they could, and trek out into the countryside where the Gateway would be placed in an outdoor, natural setting. Why? Wasn't the Gateway supposed to be within the city, as Redon III had promised? The secret of the Gateway filtered into the Noantri community, and it has been a secret even until now, known only by a few historians.
The Gateway was indeed set up in the city, at the center of it all. The Noantri team had built the support structure inside the Temple of the Unborn. What better place to make the journey to the promised land of the warm Golden Sun? But the makers of these early, untried Gateways had no idea of the gravitic stresses such a warp made on its surrounding structure. The Temple was never built to sustain such intense stress, and as soon as the first full-strength Gateway was set, it caused a catastrophic collapse inwards, through the gate, blasting most of the interior of the Temple as well as the workers and their equipment into a destination of doom.
And this is where I will end my story. We look again at the pointed finials, marked by the harsh weather of a long-gone land and by the disastrous failure of a Gateway. Of course the story does not end here. The epic of the Odiyan, the Ingathering of the Noantri, the journey of the Noantri of the old world to the Gateway sites, and the rise of Redon the Fourth, all of this would require a hundred Datawells to tell. I will also say that Nyasia, having come in second at the "Algonar Star" competion, was the first Noantri of Algonar to go through the Gateway to New Earth.
I leave this lecture with an invitation to visit the Odiyan Museum at the University of Surakosai, where you can see and actually touch some of the finials and other relics from Algonar. Perhaps some of you will perceive an echo of the original voice that issued forth the call, and envision a distant reflection of that sapphire-blue nouergic light.
